Hillary’s Crusade.
Hillary and her husband made a surprise appearance with the Rev. Billy Graham during the second day of his three-day crusade in New York. Graham has prayed with all 10 Presidents starting with Dwight Eisenhower, including Bill Clinton. Hillary did not speak at the event, as the former President did. However, Graham drew laughter from the crowd when he said that Mr. Clinton should become an evangelist “and leave his wife to run the country.”
Flag Burner.
The House of Representatives recently passed a proposed constitutional amendment prohibiting flag desecration, but Hillary is on record as opposing such a measure. She said in a statement, “Burning or destroying an American flag is a despicable act that disrespects the sacrifices of our brave veterans and soldiers who fought to protect the very freedom of speech that flag burners exploit.” However, “as offensive as each act of desecration is, amending our Constitution should be a rare and extreme measure, which we should only resort to when all legislative options have been exhausted.” She noted, “I support federal legislation that would outlaw flag desecration, much like laws that currently prohibit the burning of crosses, but I don’t believe a constitutional amendment is the answer.” However, the proposed amendment is in response to a 1990 Supreme Court decision that overturned a federal law prohibiting the desecration of the American flag, starkly calling into question her excuses that not all legislative options have been exhausted, or that she supports federal legislation.
HRC vs. Rove.
After presidential adviser Karl Rove recently criticized the Democratic response to 9/11—“Liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers”—Hillary used his comments to attack Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. She confronted Rumsfeld with the quote, calling it “the kind of statement that is particularly harmful and painful. It is the kind of statement that is unnecessary. ... It politicizes and turns into a partisan game, something as serious as the attack on our nation on September 11 and something as deadly as the conflict in which we are currently engaged. So I would hope, Mr. Secretary, that you and other members of the administration would immediately repudiate such an insulting comment from a high-ranking official in the President’s inner circle.”
GOP Rebuke.
Republicans didn’t take too kindly to Sen. Clinton’s remarks, including former Yonkers mayor and potential 2006 New York Senate candidate John Spencer, who said, “She says we all love our troops. But then to be silent when politicians like Dick Durbin, Howard Dean and Ted Kennedy and John Kerry attack the President, that’s really aiding and comforting the enemy.” Hillary also criticized New York GOP Gov. George Pataki, who was at the event at which Rove made his speech, for not speaking out against the controversial characterization. Said Hill: “I would call on anyone who was at that dinner who is a New Yorker who cares about the unity of not only New York City but of our country to say we may have disagreements about what the best way is to win the war against terror, but we have no disagreements about our unity and our resolve and the goals we seek.” However, Pataki said, “I have absolutely no intention of asking him to apologize,” and noted that Hillary hadn’t voiced similar outrage over recent controversial comments by her Democratic colleagues. “I think it’s a little hypocritical of Sen. Clinton to call on me to repudiate a political figure’s comments when she never asked Sen. Durbin to repudiate his comments. Sen. Clinton might think about her propensity to allow outrageous statements from the other side that are far beyond political dialogue—insulting every Republican, comparing our soldiers to Nazis or Soviet gulag guards—and never protesting when she serves with them,” Pataki said. And Rep. Peter King (R.-N.Y.) said, “Karl Rove deserves a medal. Hillary Clinton, she’s the one who went to the floor of the Senate and implied President Bush knew about September 11 and let it happen.”
